Digestive enzymes play a very important role in breaking down the food you eat, so that your body can extract and utilise the nutrients.
“Digestive enzymes play a very important role in breaking down the food you eat.”
There are a variety of different digestive enzymes which are responsible for looking after different nutrients. Often you can identify an enzyme with the suffix -ase – e.g, protease breaks down proteins, lactase breaks down lactose - a dairy sugar, lipase breaks down lipids - fats, and more of them, 22 in total.
There are certain foods that naturally boost your digestive enzyme production and help your body to make the most of the nutrients in your food.
If you have any digestive issues like constipation, diarrhea, bloating, leaky gut, IBS and acid reflux, you might want to add in a high-quality digestive enzyme or increase enzyme stimulating foods. This supports your stomach, pancreas, gallbladder and intestine by picking up some of the workload of breaking down food.
Digestive enzymes are particularly important to support as we age because stomach acid naturally becomes more alkaline.
A poke (pronounced "po-kay") bowl is a quick and easy way to pack in nutrient-dense fresh produce. Carefully selecting ingredients that stimulate the production of digestive enzymes can help to ensure that you are breaking down and absorbing all that nourishing goodness! We have come up with this recipe, but you can get creative with your own masterpiece! Here is a guide to help you get started.
Making Your Own Poke Bowl
Pick a base
Ideally a dark leafy green - kale, rocket, baby spinach, but you could use cauliflower rice, or quinoa.
Add some veggies
Aim for seasonal veggies that pack in a lot of nutrients, and a range of colours.
Cucumber, broccoli, capsicum, carrot, beetroot, cauliflower.
If you are a carb type, you might want to add a starchy veggie like kumara or parsnip.
Add something fermented
Sauerkraut, kimchi, natto, pickles
Add a healthy fat
Avocado, olives, olive oil, salmon, flaxseed, activated pumpkin seeds
Add a protein
Chicken, Salmon, grass-fed beef, lamb
Add a dressing
Coconut yoghurt, tahini dressing, Apple cider vinegar, lemon ginger dressing (recipe below).
Ingredients
For the salad
Rocket
Avocado
Cucumber
Red onion
Black olives
Sauerkraut
Smoked salmon
For the dressing
½ cup water
¼ cup olive oil
Tbsp apple cider vinegar
‘Thumb’ of ginger
Half a lemon
Directions
- Chop up all ingredients and assemble in bowl. We recommend chopping up your leaves too!
- To make the dressing, put all ingredients into the blender, and blend with brief intervals. Strain dressing to remove any bits from the lemon and the ginger
